From the essentials to cutting edge techniques in optical imaging and electrophysiology 

OPTICAL IMAGING AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL RECORDING IN NEUROSCIENCE

A 14-day residential course of lectures, demonstrations and practical work; a lectures-only option will be available online

LECTURES AND PRACTICALS

Lectures and practicals held at the Université Paris Descartes, 45 Rue des Saints Peres, 75006 Paris, France. Three days of demonstrations and lab visits are run at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (IBENS), Brain and Spine Institute (ICM) and Pasteur Institute. World-expert lecturers and instructors come from Paris, France, Europe, the world.

FEES

The course fee is expected to be 1500€ per student including accommodation and 1100€ without accommodation. Special arrangements exist for attending lectures only (including online for a modest fee) and for students from contributing institutions. We can offer a limited number of stipends to participants from low and middle-income countries.

HANDS-ON

The course consolidates basic knowledge of electronics and optics with practicals follower by all students. We then offer intensive hands-on experimental sessions over six days, with dedicated instructors and setups assembled with the latest equipment. Students choose 3 techniques from: patch-clamping in slices, field recordings, calcium imaging, high-speed cameras, 2-photon imaging, Neuropixels and photolysis.

BOARD AND LODGING

Basic accomodation in a student residence should be available. Breakfast and lunch will be provided at the course (except Sundays). All students and lecturers are invited to the welcome and farewell banquets.

DEMONSTRATIONS

There are numerous demonstrations of advanced techniques, including: high-speed two-photon imaging, in vitro and in vivo light-sheet imaging, wavefront engineering,.

PARISIAN RESEARCH SOCIAL

Make the most of your stay in Paris to learn about its extensive research community and meet with local scientists to explore opportunities for collaboration, post-docs and careers. A social evening will be organised to connect interested students and researchers.
TESTIMONIALS

All the feedback from the 2023 class

Every PhD student starting electrophysiology or optics should do the practicals of the Paris Neuro Course. They’re invaluable for every neuroscientist!

Thank you so much for this amazing course! Two Jam-packed weeks surrounded by world expert academics, engineers and students, you learn A LOT! I was apprehensive whether this course would be beneficial for me, as I haven’t come from a neuroscience background, and I wanted to improve my understanding of optical imaging/engineering. It turns out, imaging is HUGELY important in neuroscience, and as well as learning a wealth of useful knowledge about optical imaging, I have had the best possible introduction (and beyond) to integrative techniques in neuroscience! I feel so grateful for being able to attend the course, I’m sure some of the knowledge gained will be hugely useful throughout by PhD, but more importantly the relationships made on the course will im sure be long lasting!

Overall intense, but very worth it. Got a lot of useful and structured knowledge. And even met a bunch of very nice people!

An exceptional and invaluable course for early career neuroscientists or those wishing to consolidate their optical imaging and e-phys knowledge. Huge amount of material taught in an accessible way, with fantastic practicals to really put the learning into context. Highly recommend.

I was expecting a lot from this spring school… And it was even better!!!

The Paris Neuro Course gave me the opportunity to understand the tools I work with, now I know how can I improve my imaging techniques. It was amazing to try new techniques and learn about them. Besides that, I met incredible people in the course and had a great time. I highly recommend it !

This course is intense, very intense. But it’s also one of the few ones which truly allows you to put your hands in the dough and to practically learn what’s usually just theoretically taught. Plus you get to meet a bunch of people from all over the world and to be sleep deprived all together!!

This course is an accompaniment towards the full mastery of optical and electrophysiological techniques. It starts with the basics, pushes their understanding through dynamic lectures and striking and original examples chosen by the passionate teachers. As the course progresses, we see the concrete applications through tp where we create amplifiers, confocal microscopes etc. Finally, we see the best techniques in these fields and for some we have the chance to practice them or to see them in the laboratories in Paris. Finally, at the end, we are able to understand the whole experience from the set-up to the analysis of the latest optical and electrophysiology techniques. And above all, how the knowledge has brought us to this point.

The course not only gives you the opportunity to learn about new technologies and state-of-the-art techniques, but also to use them. And, on top of that, hearing from people actively using them, or even directly involved with their development, adds even more to the experience. And, of course, it’s a great opportunity to meet people in the field, share experiences and networking.

Founder and principal Organizer for the first 10 editions:

David Ogden

Organizers

Boris Barbour

ENS

Brandon Stell

UPC

Jon Bradley

ENS

Desdemona Fricker

UPC

Joana LOURENCO

ICM

Michael Graupner

UPC

Nelson Rebola

UPC

Eric Schwartz

UPC

Cathie Ventalon

IBENS

Adrien Schramm

Course manager

Staff

Gilles Dewailly

UPC

Luc Tamisier

UPC

Hervé Suaudeau

UPC